anxiety meds causing restless legs syndrome?! help!?

Is it true that anti anxiety medication (ie SSRI’s such as venlafaxine effexor which is what I take) can cause things like nocturnal myoclonus? I have a sleep disorder called nocturnal myoclonus that causes me to be sleep deprived all the time because when my legs move around at night I wake up about every 10 mins, thus missing out on REM sleep. THis affects my life signifigantly. My doctors are trying to figure out how to solve this problem. They say that my anti-anxiety meds may have caused it although I started taking the meds a whole year before the sleep disorder even came about. So is my psychiatrist going to have to change my anti anxiety meds? IT took him a year of trial and error to find one that worked for me. THey are also putting me on requip ropinrole hcl to decrease the leg movements.

effexor is a great med- if it works, don’t stop it. this is a rare instance of when i would add a med to treat a *possible* side effect. although i have not taken requip- i have a friend who it is working well. for.

i can sympathize with the restless legs. besides that, i gring my teeth. my husband says sleeping in bed with me is like being aboard the SS Denise, and she’s dragging anchor. lol.

Spasmodic torticollis Recovered By Acupuncture